Anatomy

Football Focus: Anatomy of hosting a night game with portable lights – The Salem News

This is the story of a Friday night football game, and how it all came together.

But there is so, so much more to it than that. This is the story of how it came to be.

Something like this has never happened on our school campus before, and we really wanted to make it a reality, said Beverly High athletic director Dan Keefe. Everything had to go exactly right for us to pull this off ... and despite a few obstacles, weve been able to do so.

The genesis of the idea came about towards the end of the summer, when Keefe and Beverly High principal Betty Taylor were kicking around some ideas. Why not, they agreed, try to do something special this fall after what had been an unbelievably trying 2020-21 school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Initially, the thought was to do something at Hurd Stadium and make an event out of one of the football games. A day or two later, the two administrators took it a step further: what could they do that would involve more teams at the high school, not just football?

Jordan Irvine (23) and the Beverly Panthers got the better of Danvers Colin Kelter (12) Aris Xerras (81) and the Falcons at home this past spring; now they want to do so again, this time playing under temporary lights at Forti Field Friday night.

Thus the plan was conceived: a two-day event at the high school campus itself which the boys and girls soccer varsity soccer teams, the varsity field hockey team and the football team would all be part of. All four teams would play on the newly-installed turf at Forti Field with temporary lights in place. Boys soccer (4:30 p.m.) and girls soccer (7 p.m.) would play on Thursday, Oct. 7; field hockey (4:30 p.m.) and football (7:15 p.m.) would do so the following night.

Beverly has played a handful of night football games in the past at Hurd Stadium, their traditional home field. But the chain link fence that surrounds the venerable and beloved field wouldnt work for soccer or field hockey games, not to mention the fact that the field is wider in both of those sports than it is for football. So the decision was made to hold all four games right on the high school turf.

Having two soccer games on Thursday, then a field hockey game leading into a Friday night football game, all right on campus ... we felt like we really had something, said Keefe.

The AD got to work contacting the athletic directors of the schools that the Panthers would be playing on those two proposed dates. Swampscott AD Kelly Farley agreed her varsity soccer teams play at Beverly on the same day. The Panther girls are using this opportunity to hold their Senior Night, making a special occasion that much more memorable. (The two schools will play each other again on Monday in Swampscott, with the boys playing under the lights in that one).

Mike Bierwirth, the Lynnfield AD, gave the thumbs up for his Pioneers field hockey team to play the Panthers Friday in their own Senior Night game at 4:30 p.m. Danvers High athletic director Andy St. Pierre did the same for Fridays football game.

No AD likes to lose a home game; thats a big ask, admitted Keefe. The fact that everyone was willing to accommodate us for this event was very gracious.

Owen Gasinowksi is a dual threat for Danvers, leading the Blue-and-White in receptions and receiving yards while also ranking second on the club in rushing.

JAIME CAMPOS/Staff file photo

Keefe reached out to food trucks who could sell their goods on the two nights, and two Beverly companies stepped up: Joes On A Roll (owned and operated Nicki Birarelli) and Butter UR Biscuit. Beverly Bootstraps said theyd do a food drive both evenings, asking for non-perishable items such as peanut butter, box pasta, macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, diapers/Pull-Ups (sizes 2-6), tuna fish, cooking oils and sprays, canned tuna and soup that can help fill pantry shelves.

The BHS Band will also be selling food items. Another group at the high school, the Birthday Wishes Club, will sell glow sticks and glow necklaces in order to create Birthday Boxes for homeless children.

A Toys For Tots fundraiser raffle was set up through Beverlys Henry Witham. Keefe got Todd Angilly, who sings the National Anthem at Boston Bruins home games, to come in to sing it before the football game Friday, and the BHS band will play their traditional halftime show. Keefe even set up a vaccine clinic for Friday night.

It was setting up to be a complete community event for and put on by the people of The Garden City.

The biggest challenge was finding someone who could rent them lights. Keefe spent a few days burning up the phones before getting confirmation from a company on the South Shore. The school signed an agreement with the company, and everything was hunky dory.

Until it wasnt.

Early last week, Keefe got a call from the company saying there had been a mistake, and they wouldnt be able to honor their commitment.

Panic set in.

At that point, we realistically didnt know if wed be able to pull it off, admitted Keefe. We gave ourselves until Wednesday at noon and if we didnt have a solution then, wed have to cancel the whole thing.

Fortunately, help came to the rescue. Scott Connolly, Salem Highs athletic director, told Keefe he had three light towers that he could borrow. St. Pierre said they had two that could also be used. Taylor then reached out to Mike Collins, the Commissioner of Public Services and Engineering in Beverly, and he was able to obtain an additional eight light towers from a contractor he knew at 10 a.m. that Wednesday.

Ten light towers will be lined up around the field while the other three will be placed around the campus to light the way to and from the field. Theres ample space for parking and for fans to watch the games, too, either on the sloping grass that overlooks the complex (similar to the hill many fans sit at when theyre at Hurd); outside the fence surrounding Forti Field, or even up along Herrick Street, where fans will get a complete view of the entire field.

Keefe acknowledged that one of the biggest supporters of this event was Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Charochak, who told him she couldve foot the bill for the lights from the South Shore company had they not backed out.

All the feedback weve received from the kids, the coaches, people in the city ... its been pretty good, said Keefe, who thanked the Beverly High custodial staff for being a big part of making this dream a reality. It was touch and go for a while ... but now were finally making it happen, and thats a good thing for all the kids involved.

Continued here:
Football Focus: Anatomy of hosting a night game with portable lights - The Salem News

Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 Episode 2 Review: Some Kind of Tomorrow – TV Fanatic

It's feeling like old Grey's again, and that couldn't be more welcome.

So much of Grey's Anatomy Season 18 Episode 2felt like the early days of the series and made for an enjoyable hour.

We got intriguing cases, the teases for new romances, competitive residents playing Webber's version of the Olympics, and the series covering important topics without doing so in a heavy-handed manner.

Bailey and Webber's portion of the hour felt the most meta as Bailey made commentary about how many of the medical staff are experiencing burnout. The residents aren't the only ones in need of a boost in morale.

Bailey is losing doctors left and right as many are retiring, quitting, or doing other things. It's one of many reasons that she's worried about Mer taking a job in Minnesota.

Bailey losing Wong to early retirement was a stark reminder of how short-staffed they have been since the pandemic.

But she brought up wanting to do retreats and other communal types of events as they used to do, hell, maybe the baseball games or something of that effect.

She wants to build up the remaining doctors there and make them feel like a family again. Bailey mentioned joy and finding it in what they do.

Everyone needed the reminder of why they're doctors in the first place. Webber's interest is reignited now that he's taking over the teaching in Meredith's absence.

When is the last time we've seen Webber this excited?! It's been ages. He feels like he's found his purpose again, and he's right back in his element.

The residents performing the surgical Olympics was fun and hilarious. It was a reminder of how little time we've spent with the majority of the residents outside of Levi.

It was hard to remember most of their names, but we did learn from Ortiz that Mama Ortiz is with Jackson, and she's happy to have space from her mom to carve a path of her own.

Perez continues to be comedic gold every single time he's onscreen. And it speaks volumes about how behind the residents probably are if Helm and Levi are still duking it out with the newbies over a solo surgery.

Perez: I thought Dr. Grey was teaching the residency program now? Webber: Who do you think taught Dr. Grey?

Despite Helm coming across as the competitive Cristina of the bunch, Levi won out, and his reaction to that was hilarious.

And when he stressed out during this solo surgery (which, didn't he already perform one of those before?), the other residents were there to cheer him on and talking him through it.

Are these residents meant to give us the M.A.G.I.C. goodness? Not necessarily, but at least we're getting to know them, and we have that element of the show back in swing a bit.

All the other attendings rotating their time judging each event and being amused at the residents made you think of the good old days. Those scenes were the most fun of the hour.

From the casual snacking and laid-back demeanors to the uber-competitive spirits, you smiled while watching them.

And Webber had the meta moment too when he proudly proclaimed that they were back. It applies to the series as a whole.

We had some of those bizarre cases that get you talking, too. The shots of the vaginal exam were effective, as a girl was crossing her legs by the time Jo PULLED A STRAWBERRY OUT OF ROBIN'S HOO-HA.

Webber's reaction to that was priceless, but Jo's wasn't any less hysterical. So, there are so many questions about whatever the hell Robin thought she was doing.

Who would put a strawberry in their vagina? And how exactly did she swallow the yoni egg?

Jo is living her best life with her cute blond hairdo and pink scrubs, despite cases like that. And can we give Link a round of applause for that vagina/pink/scrubs exchange?

She and Link are such great friends, and it feels good to see casual friendship like that again. They have their whole little system of taking care of the kids while Link laments his situation with Amelia.

We even have the Hunt siblings going rogue and kicking ass while practicing medicine and helping patients. The Owen, Megan, Teddy sibling vibes are strong and fun.

The Hunt siblings are already pretty amusing when they share the screen, so the two of them working together is brimming with potential.

Teddy and Owen are blissful these days, and it's better than all of their relationship angst. Owen is even really good in dad mode.

Leo loves wearing dresses and channeling Elsa, and they're all about Leo's free self-expression. Owen is surprisingly great with all of it, and Teddy's fears about how society would react to Leo got the better of her before Owen came through with the best advice.

You can understand Teddy's fears as a mother. She's all too familiar with a world that isn't kind, but she also can't project that onto Leo before he has to learn all of that. Right now, he enjoys his dresses, and nothing anyone says or does to him changes that.

Let him live in that blissful confidence that comes with youth for as long as he can.

Meanwhile, they're teasing some vibes between Megan and Hayes, yes? Will this be the second time Mer and Megan will share a love interest? Oh, so Grey's!

Teddy and Owen working on a case with another veteran was welcome, even if Owen couldn't let things go with Young. One could appreciate Hayes leveling with Owen as a husband and father who watched his wife struggle with a terminal illness and remembers what that was like for her and the kids.

Hayes and Owen are a duo that never interacts much.

Jo: Robin, there's a strawberry lodged in your...Robin: OH, that tracks!

And to balance out the kookiness of Jo's case and the sadness of Teddy and Owen's, we got the informative one with Winston and Ortiz.

The hour managed to touch on one of many racist practices still in healthcare, and that's the racial disparity in eGFR, which is considered the best way of measuring kidney function.

Because of the inequity in calculations, factoring race results in millions of people of color, Black folks, in particular, dying of kidney disease because they aren't eligible for transplants based on their estimated rate during the test.

You could guess that it was an element the series would address when Rashida was thrilled to share with her followers that she had a Black doctor.

Kraus: This is not protocol. Winston: It's not. It's a life. Rashida's.

Her excitement was because of exactly what took place. Without Winston advocating for her so much, going toe to toe with Kraus about this testing, and how ridiculous it was that they denied her a spot on the transplant list, Rashida would've died.

It's the first time that Winston got a case that took up so much of the hour where he stood out on his own and officially felt like part of the cast beyond Maggie's love interest.

And he and Ortiz worked well together.

It was a great case, and the series managed to introduce the topic, make it informative, and get viewers invested without getting too preachy as they had been doing.

It was perfect, and Maggie's absence ensured that Winston got to stand out on his own.

Back in Minnesota, the chemistry between Mer and Nick continues to smolder in all the best ways.

Nick is smitten with Mer, and it oozes through in their every interaction. They're fun and flirty, but he also manages to get through to Mer in ways that she needs, and they're taking their time showing how well these two work with one another.

Mer was giving Hamilton's offer more thought than you'd imagine. It was more surprising that she expressed doubts and hesitancy about this revolutionary medicine she could participate in there.

Amelia was trying her hardest to convince Mer to take the offer. She was all-in, no questions asked, and it'll be great for Amelia.

At least Amelia makes sense for this project. It's still a bit ridiculous that Hamilton wants Mer for this when she's a General Surgeon, not neuro or anything else.

Amelia's giddiness over everything was adorable. She geeked out the second she waltzed into the lab, and she didn't even have to think about jumping on board.

She also got noticeably giddy when she met Dr. Bartley.

Mer: I'm scared to say yes, and I am very rarely scared. Nick: What are you scared of? Mer: Failure. This project will cost millions of dollars, will be risky, win or lose will be written about, and I'm not sure it's the first thing I want to do after surviving COVID.

Let the record show that I am still beyond pissed off about how this series chose to destroy Amelia and Link's stable, healthy relationship out of the blue for the sake of drama. It's the most contrived storyline we have right now, and it's irritating on so many levels.

The idea that they're even teasing a new relationship is offensive. However, Amelia behaved like a giggly schoolgirl when she saw them, and in her defense, they're attractive.

It's Amelink all day for this reviewer, but until they get their crap together, if the show chooses to explore Amelia and Bartley, well, begrudgingly, it's intriguing.

It felt as if Amelia and Hamilton gave their best efforts convincing Mer to take on the project, but in the end, Nick's proper assessment of her seemed to be the tipping point in favor of agreeing.

Despite what Mer was saying, a research job is more stable than anything else. She can't let her COVID experience keep her from seizing the best opportunities. It's more of a reason why she should.

Mer negotiated her terms, and it means that we'll have her at Grey Sloan with the rest of her family and friends. We'll get that wonderful escapism with this groundbreaking project where she gets to work alongside Amelia, and she can have sexytimes with Nick.

It's the best of both worlds!

Over to you, Grey's Fanatics.

Did this hour give you the old Grey's vibe? Are you happy Mer said yes? Sound off below!

You canwatch Grey's Anatomy onlinehere via TV Fanatic.

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Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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Grey's Anatomy Season 18 Episode 2 Review: Some Kind of Tomorrow - TV Fanatic

Anatomy

The Character Everyone Forgets Matthew Morrison Played On Grey’s Anatomy – Looper

Dr. Paul Stadler first pops up in the 23rd episode of Season 13 of "Grey'sAnatomy," "True Colors."He's attending a Minimally Invasive Surgery Conference in California, which also boasts Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) as a participant. Alex soon realizes that Stadler is his girlfriend Dr. Jo Wilson's (Camilla Luddington) abusive ex-husband, and he fantasizes about beating him up the way Paul beat up Jo. While Alex spends the whole episode tailing Paul, they never come to blows. Instead, Alex rejects Paul's offer to split a cab to the airport, a gesture of kindness and goodwill he would later regret.

Stadler heads to the airport anddoesn't resurface until the 8th episode of Season 14, "Out of Nowhere."ForJo,the then-new chief resident atGrey Sloan Memorial Hospital, the episode's title proves to be prophetic. Stadler shows up unexpectedly in the middle of a hacking crisis at the hospital and does so at the tail end of the episode, wrecking Jo's emotional equilibrium.

In Episode 9 of Season 14, "1-800-799-7233," which is also the number of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the audience learns he'd figured out Jo's pseudonym and tracked her down because he wants her to sign a divorce agreement so he can marry his new fiance Jenny (Joy Lenz). After the papers are inked, Jo reaches out to Jenny, concerned Paul might be abusing her as well. Jenny denies that there's anything wrong with their relationship. But Jo knows Paul too well. She slips Jenny a piece of paper bearing the titular number, and Paul later confronts Jo over the gesture, informing her that Jenny told him about the note and that he's withholding it from his fiance, strongly hinting that time hasn't changed him at all.

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The Character Everyone Forgets Matthew Morrison Played On Grey's Anatomy - Looper

Anatomy

Station 19 & Greys Anatomy Return to Thursday Nights on ABC – ABC Action News

Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy have enjoyed crossover success on many occasions including this seasons premiere episodes Thursday October 7th starting at 8 p.m.

On Station19 - Andy and Sullivans relationship continues to be tested. Meanwhile, Emmett joins Dean and Vic on a mental health call, and Maya does some soul searching on a new episode of Station 19, THURSDAY, OCT. 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC.

On GreysAnatomy - Meredith seeks advice from Amelia. Meanwhile, Richard is reenergized as he takes teaching to a new level at the hospital, and Winston treats a patient suffering from kidney failure on a new episode of Greys Anatomy, THURSDAY, OCT. 7 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC

For more info, visit:https://abc.com/shows/station-19https://abc.com/shows/greys-anatomy

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Station 19 & Greys Anatomy Return to Thursday Nights on ABC - ABC Action News

Anatomy

Addison Returns to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Kate Walsh Teases ‘Twists & Turns’ With Meredith – NBC Right Now

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO 9 AM PDTTUESDAY...* WHAT...Sub-freezing temperatures as low as 27 expected.* WHERE...In Washington, Lower Columbia Basin of Washington,Yakima Valley, Simcoe Highlands and Foothills of the BlueMountains of Washington. In Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin ofOregon, Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon,Foothills of the Southern Blue Mountains of Oregon and NorthCentral Oregon.* WHEN...From 3 AM to 9 AM PDT Tuesday.* IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, othersensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoorplumbing.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To preventfreezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they shouldbe wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that havein-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above-ground pipes to protect them from freezing.&&

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Addison Returns to 'Grey's Anatomy': Kate Walsh Teases 'Twists & Turns' With Meredith - NBC Right Now

Neuroscience

Psychiatry | Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human …

The UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences is the home within theDavid Geffen School of Medicinefor faculty who are expert in the origins of and treatments for disorders of complex human behavior.

The Department is also an integral part ofThe Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLAwhich is a world leading, interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behaviour and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders.

TheResnick Neuropsychiatric Hospitalis the department's flagship location for patient care at UCLA and has consistently been ranked among the top five facilities nationwide by U.S. News & World Reports.

Interim Chair: Alexander Young

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Psychiatry | Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human ...

Neuroscience

Shape Therapeutics enters into a strategic research

SEATTLE, Aug. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shape Therapeutics Inc. (ShapeTX), a biotechnology company developing RNA technologies to shape the future of gene therapy, today announced a multi-target strategic collaboration and license agreement with Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY). Through this partnership ShapeTX will apply its proprietary RNA editing platform RNAfixand potentially leverage its AAVidtechnology platform for next-generation tissue-specific adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) for the development of gene therapy for certain targets in the areas of Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and rare diseases.

During the course of the partnership, ShapeTX will conduct preclinical research to identify and deliver development candidates discovered by its AI-powered platforms RNAfixand, potentially, AAVid. Roche will be responsible for the development and worldwide commercialization of any potential products resulting from the collaboration.

Our mission at ShapeTX is to unlock the next breakthrough in RNA technologies in the gene therapy space across a wide range of therapeutic areas, said Francois Vigneault, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ShapeTX. The relationship with Roche quickly centered on a common desire to tackle some of the worlds most challenging diseases by accelerating the development of breakthrough technologies towards the clinic.

We are excited by the disruptive potential of ShapeTXs RNA-editing approach based on natures own mechanism for specific base editing. This new collaboration is also perfectly aligned with our broader efforts across the Roche Group to unlock the full potential of gene therapy, said James Sabry, Head of Roche Pharma Partnering. We look forward to working with ShapeTX to create novel treatment options for neuroscience and rare disease indications.

Under the terms of the agreement, ShapeTX is eligible to receive an initial payment as well as development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, potentially exceeding $3 billion in aggregate value. ShapeTX is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on future sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

About Shape Therapeutics Inc.Shape Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing breakthrough RNA technologies to shape the future of gene therapy. The ShapeTX gene therapy platform is comprised of RNAskip, RNAfixand RNAswappayload technologies, next-generation tissue-specific AAViddelivery technology, and SquareBio, a solution for scalable gene therapy manufacturing based on industrialization of human stable cell lines. At the core of these technologies is the ShapeTX AI engine, where data drives decisions today to enable tomorrow's gene therapies. ShapeTX is committed to data-driven scientific advancement, passionate people, and a mission of providing lifelong cures to patients. Shape Life! shapetx.com

Contact Business Contact:Shape Therapeutics Inc.Cindy Fung, PhDcindy@shapetx.com

Media Contact:ID Public RelationsLydia Youmedia@shapetx.com

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Shape Therapeutics enters into a strategic research

Neuroscience

The neuroscience of advanced scientific concepts | npj Science of Learning – Nature.com

This study identified the content of the neural representations in the minds of physicists considering some of the classical and post-classical physics concepts that characterize their understanding of the universe. In this discussion, we focus on the representations of post-classical concepts, which are the most recent and most abstract and have not been previously studied psychologically. The neural representations of both the post-classical and classical concepts were underpinned by four underlying neurosemantic dimensions, such that these two types of concepts were located at opposite ends of the dimensions. The neural representations of classical concepts tended to be underpinned by underlying dimensions of measurability of magnitude, association with a mathematical formulation, having a concrete, non-speculative basis, and in some cases, periodicity. By contrast, the post-classical concepts were located at the other ends of these dimensions, stated initially here in terms of what they are not (e.g. they are not periodic and not concrete). Below we discuss what they are.

The main new finding is the underlying neural dimension of representation pertaining to the concepts presence (in the case of the classical concepts) or absence (in the case of the post-classical concepts) of a concrete, non-speculative basis. The semantic characterization of this new dimension is supported by two sources of converging evidence. First, the brain imaging measurement of each concepts location on this underlying dimension (i.e. the concepts factor scores) converged with the behavioral ratings of the concepts degree of association with this dimension (as we have interpreted it) by an independent group of physicists. (This type of convergence occurred for the other three dimensions as well.) Second, the two types of concepts have very distinguishable neural signatures: a classifier can very accurately distinguish the mean of the post-classical concepts signatures from the mean of the classical concepts within each participant, with a grand mean accuracy of 0.93, p<0.001.

As physicists ventured into conceptually new territory in the 20th century and developed new post-classical concepts, their brains organized the new concepts with respect to a new dimension that had not played a role in the representation of classical concepts.

To describe what mental processes might characterize the post-classical end of this new dimension, it is useful to consider what attributes of the post-classical concepts could have led to their being neurally organized as they are and what cognitive and neural processes might operate on these attributes. Previously mentioned was that post-classical concepts often involve their immeasurability and their lower likelihood of being strongly associated with a mathematical formulation and periodicity, both of which are attributes that are often absent from post-classical concepts.

More informative than the absent attributes are four types of cognitive processes evoked by the post-classical concepts: (1) Reasoning about intangibles, taking into account their separation from direct experience and their lack of direct observability; (2) Assessing consilience with other, firmer knowledge; (3) Causal reasoning about relations that are not apparent or observable; and (4) Knowledge management of a large knowledge organization consisting of a multi-level structure of other concepts.

In addition to enabling the decoding of the content of the participants thoughts, whether they were thinking of dark matter or tachyon for example, the brain activation patterns are also informative about the concomitant psychological processes that operate on the concepts, in particular, the four processes listed above are postulated to co-occur specifically with the post-classical concepts. The occurrence of these processes was inferred from those locations of the voxel clusters associated with (having high loadings on) the classical/post-classical factor, specifically the factor locations where the activation levels increased for the post-classical concepts. (These voxel clusters are shown in Fig. 4, and their centroids are included in Table 2). Inferring a psychological process based on previous studies that observed activation in that location is called reverse inference. This can be an uncertain inferential method because many different processes or tasks can evoke activation at the same location. What distinguishes the current study are several sources of independent converging evidence, in conjunction with the brain locations associated with a factor (and not simply observed activation), indicating a particular process.

The factor clusters are encircled and numbered for ease of reference in the text and their centroids are included in Table 2. These locations correspond to the four classes of processes evoked by the post-classical concepts.

First, a statistically reliable decoding model predicted the activation levels for each concept in the factor locations, based on independent ratings of the concepts with respect to the postulated dimension/factor. The activation levels of the voxels in the factor locations were systematically modulated by the stimulus set, with the post-classical concepts, a specific subset of the stimuli eliciting the highest activation levels in these locations, resulting in the highest factor scores for this factor. Thus these brain locations were associated with an activation-modulating factor, not with a stimulus or a task. Second, the processes are consistent with the properties participants reported to have associated with the post-classical concepts. These properties provide converging evidence for these four types of processes occurring. For example, the concept of multiverse evoked properties related to assessing consilience, such as a hypothetical way to explain away constants. Another example is that tachyons and quasars were attributed with properties related to reasoning about intangibles, such as quasi-stellar objects. Third, the processes attributed to the factor locations were based not simply on an occasional previous finding, but on the large-scale meta-analysis (the Neurosynth database, Yarkoni et al.10) using the association based test feature. The association between the location and the process was based on the cluster centroid locations; particularly relevant citations are included in the factor descriptions. Each of the four processes is described in more detail below.

The nature of many of the post-classical concepts entails the consideration of alternative possible worlds. The post-classical factor location in the right temporal area (shown in cluster 5 in Fig. 4) has been associated with hypothetical or speculative reasoning in previous studies. In a hypothetical reasoning task, the left supramarginal factor location (shown in cluster 8) was activated during the generation of novel labels for abstract objects11. Additionally, the right temporal factor location (shown in cluster 5) was activated during the assessment of confidence in probabilistic judgments12.

Another facet of post-classical concepts is that they require the unknown or non-observable to be brought into consilience with what is already known. The right middle frontal cluster (shown in cluster 2) has been shown to be part of a network for integrating evidence that disconfirms a belief13. This consilience process resembles the comprehension of an unfolding narrative, where a new segment of the narrative must be brought into coherence with the parts that preceded it. When readers of a narrative judge the coherence of a new segment of text, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex location (shown in cluster 6) is activated14. This location is associated with a post-classical factor location, as shown in Fig. 4. Thus understanding the coherence of an unfolding narrative text might involve some of the same psychological and neural consilience-seeking processes as thinking about concepts like multiverse.

Thinking about many of the post-classical concepts requires the generation of novel types of causal inferences to link two events. In particular, the inherent role of the temporal relations in specifying causality between events is especially complex with respect to post-classical concepts. The temporal ordering itself of events is frame-dependent in some situations, despite causality being absolutely preserved, leading to counter-intuitive (though not counter-factual) conclusions. For example, in relativity theory the concept of simultaneity entails two spatially separated events that may occur at the same time for a particular observer but which may not be simultaneous for a second observer, and even the temporal ordering of the events may not be fixed for the second observer. Because the temporal order of events is not absolute, causal reasoning in post-classical terms must eschew inferencing on this basis, but must instead rely on new rules (laws) that lead to consilience with observations that indeed can be directly perceived.

Another example, this one from quantum physics, concerns a particle such as an electron that may be conceived to pass through a small aperture at some speed. Its subsequent momentum becomes indeterminate in such a way that the arrival location of the particle at a distant detector can only be described in probabilistic terms, according to new rules (laws) that are very definite but not intuitive. The perfectly calculable non-local wave function of the particle-like object is said to collapse upon arrival in the standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. Increasingly elaborate probing of physical systems with one or several particles, interacting alone or in groups with their environment, has for decades elucidated and validated the non-intuitive new rules about limits and alternatives to classical causality in the quantum world. The fact that new rules regarding causal reasoning are needed in such situations was described as the heart of quantum mechanics and as containing the only mystery by Richard Feynman15.

Generating causal inferences to interconnect a sequence of events in a narrative text evokes activation in a right temporal and right frontal location (shown in clusters 3 and 4) which are post-classical factor locations16,17,18 as shown in Fig. 4. Causal reasoning accompanying perceptual events also activates a right middle frontal location (shown in cluster 3) and a right superior parietal location (shown in cluster 1)19. Notably, the right parietal activation is the homolog of a left parietal cluster associated with causal visualization1 found in undergraduates physics conceptualizations, suggesting that post-classical concepts may recruit right hemisphere homologs of regions evoked by classical concepts. Additionally, a factor location in the left supramarginal gyrus (shown in cluster 8) is activated in causal assessment tasks such as determining whether the causality of a social event was person-based (being a hard worker) or situation based (danger)20.

Although we have treated post-classical concepts such as multiverse as a single concept, it is far more complex than velocity. Multiverse entails the consideration of the uncertainty of its existence, the consilience of its probability of existence with measurements of matter in the universe, and the consideration of scientific evidence relevant to a multiverse. Thinking about large, multi-concept units of knowledge, such as the schema for executing a complex multi-step procedure evokes activation in medial frontal regions (shown in cluster 6)21,22. Reading and comprehending the description of such procedures (read, think about, answer questions, listen to, etc.) requires the reader to cognitively organize diverse types of information in a common knowledge structure. Readers who were trained to self-explain expository biological texts activated an anterior prefrontal cortex region (shown in cluster 7 in Fig. 4) during the construction of text models and strategic processing of internal representations23.

This underlying cognitive function of knowledge management associated with the post-classical dimension may generate and utilize a structure to manage a complex array of varied information that is essential to the concept. This type of function has been referred to as a Managerial Knowledge Unit22. As applied to a post-classical concept such as a tachyon, this knowledge management function would contain links to information to evaluate the possibility of the existence of tachyons, hypothetical particles that would travel faster than light-speed in vacuum. The concept invokes a structured network of simpler concepts (mass, velocity, light, etc.) that compose it. This constitutes a knowledge unit larger than a single concept.

Although the discussion has so far focused on the most novel dimension (the classical vs. post-classical), all four dimensions together compose the neural representation of each concept, which indicates where on each dimension a given concept is located (assessed by the concepts factor scores). The bar graphs of Fig. 5 show how the concepts at the extremes of the dimensions can appear at either extreme on several dimensions. These four dimensions are:

the classical vs. post-classical dimension, as described above, which is characterized by contrasting the intangible but consilient nature of post-classical concepts versus the quantifiable, visualizable, otherwise observable nature of classical concepts.

the measurability of a magnitude associated with a concept, that is, the degree to which it has some well-defined extent in space, time, or material properties versus the absence of this property.

the periodicity or oscillation which describes how many systems behave over time versus the absence of periodicity as an important element.

the degree to which a concept is associated with a mathematical formulation that formalizes the rules and principles of the behavior of matter and energy versus being less specified by such formalizations.

A concept may have a high factor score for more than one factor; for example, potential energy appears as measurable, mathematical, and on the classical end of the post-classical dimension. In contrast, multiverse appears as non-measurable, non-periodic, and post-classical.

The locations of the clusters of voxels with high loadings on each of the factors are shown in Fig. 6.

Colors differentiate the factors and greater color transparency indicates greater depth. Sample concepts from the two ends of the dimensions are listed. The post-classical factor locations include those whose activations were high for post-classical concepts (their locations are shown in Fig. 4) as well as those locations whose activations were high for classical concepts.

Classical concepts with high factor scores on the measurability factor, such as frequency, wavelength, acceleration, and torque, are all concepts that are often measured, using devices such as oscilloscopes and torque wrenches, whereas post-classical concepts such as duality and dark matter have an uncertainty of boundedness and no defined magnitude resulting in factor scores at the other end of the dimension. This factor is associated with parietal and precuneus clusters that are often found to be activated when people have to assess or compare magnitudes of various types of objects or numbers24,25,26, a superior frontal cluster that exhibits higher activation when people are comparing the magnitudes of fractions as opposed to decimals27, and an occipital-parietal cluster (dorsolateral extrastriate V3A) that activates when estimating the arrival time of a moving object28. Additional brain locations associated with this factor include left supramarginal and inferior parietal regions that are activated during the processing of numerical magnitudes;26 and left intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal regions activated during the processing of spatial information29. This factor was not observed in a previous study that included only classical concepts and hence the factor would not have differentiated among the concepts1.

The mathematical formulation factor is salient for concepts that are clearly associated with a mathematical formalization. The three concepts that are most strongly associated with this factor, commutator, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian, are mathematical functions or operators. Cluster locations that are associated with this factor include: parietal regions that tend to activate in tasks involving mathematical representations30,31 and right frontal regions related to difficult mental calculations32,33. The parietal regions associated with the factor, which extend into the precuneus, activate in arithmetic tasks34. While most if not all physics concepts entail some degree of mathematical formulation, post-classical concepts such as quasar, while being measurable, are typically not associated with an algebraic formulation.

The periodicity factor is salient for many of the classical concepts, particularly those related to waves: wave function, light, radio waves, and gamma rays. This factor is associated with right hemisphere clusters and a left inferior frontal cluster, locations that resemble those of a similarly described factor in a neurosemantic analysis of physics concepts in college students1. This factor was also associated with a right hemisphere cluster in the inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral precuneus.

For all four underlying semantic dimensions, the brain activation-based orderings of the physics concepts with respect to their dimensions were correlated with the ratings of those concepts along those dimensions by independent physics faculty. This correlation makes it possible for a linear regression model to predict the activation pattern that will be evoked by future concepts in physicists brains. When a new physics concept becomes commonplace, (such as a new particle category, say, magnetic monopoliae), it should be possible to predict the brain activation that will be the neural signature of the magnetic monopole concept, based on how that concept is rated along the four underlying dimensions.

The neurosemantic conceptual space defined by the four underlying dimensions includes regions that are currently sparsely populated by existing concepts, but these regions may well be the site of some yet-to-be theorized concepts. It is also possible that as future concepts are developed, additional dimensions of neural representation may emerge, expanding the conceptual space that underpins the concepts in the current study.

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The neuroscience of advanced scientific concepts | npj Science of Learning - Nature.com

Neuroscience

Follow the Money: CRISPR, Next-Gen Neuroscience, Protein Platforms – Bio-IT World

October 11, 2021 | CRISPR unicorn, pan-coronavirus vaccine research, chemical and biological weapons protection for warfighters, new methods for live cell research, seed round for a new drug discovery platform, and more.

$195M for CRISPR Toolkit

Mammoth Biosciences has secured $195 million in financing, joining the select ranks of unicorn startups with a valuation of more than $1 billion. The funds will enable the company to broaden its toolkit of next-generation CRISPR systems with a focus on building permanent genetic cures through in vivo gene-editing therapeutics and democratizing disease detection with on-demand diagnostics. The financing comprises a $150 million Series D led by Redmile Group, with participation from Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street, Greenspring Associates, Mayfield, Decheng Capital, NFX and Plum Alley, among others. It follows a $45 million Series C in late 2020, which was led by Redmile Group and Foresite Capital, and included participation from Amazon as well as existing investors.

$124M Buyout for Protein Detection, Acquisitions

Vector Laboratories has closed a $124 million cash buyout, backed by private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, to accelerate its expansion into protein detection. This new funding enables Vector Laboratories to embark upon an acquisition strategy, while also accelerating the commercialization of innovative labeling and detection technologies for immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, glycobiology, and bioconjugation. Through this buyout, Vector Laboratories has gained the flexibility of a well-funded startup combined with a market-tested product portfolio driving innovative research by academic, industrial, and clinical researchers around the world. The buyout was led by Lisa V. Sellers, Ph.D., now appointed Chief Executive Officer. Prior to taking the helm at Vector Laboratories, Dr. Sellers served as Chief Operating Officer at the company. Previously, she served as VP of Marketing at 10x Genomics, having led marketing during the company's hyper-growth phase. In addition, she has held leadership roles overseeing the global reagent and instrumentation businesses for Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies, and ThermoFisher Scientific.

$109M for COVID-19 Consumables Supply Chain

OraSure Technologies has been awarded a $109 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to build additional manufacturing capacity in the United States for InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid tests as part of the nations pandemic preparedness plan. InteliSwab is a remarkably simple test that rapidly detects active COVID-19 infection. It was granted three Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use. The federal funding will expand OraSures production capacity by 100 million tests annually, by March 2024. An existing OraSure location in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will be retrofitted to accommodate increased manufacturing and an additional new facility will be added in another U.S. location to be determined. In addition to this contract, OraSure also has internally funded expansion plans to achieve 120 million tests annually by the second quarter of 2022.

$105M FDA Review Voucher Sale

Albireo Pharma has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Priority Review Voucher (PRV) for $105 million. The PRV was granted to Albireo under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provision that encourages the development of treatments for rare pediatric diseases. The Company received the voucher with the approval of Bylvay for the treatment of pruritus in all types of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC). Albireo will receive a payment of $105 million upon the closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur following expiration of the applicable U.S. antitrust clearance requirements.

$45M Series B for Virtual Care

eVisit, the leading Virtual Care platform for large healthcare providers, has closed a $45 million Series B financing round led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), with participation from Texas Health Resources, Tom Burton and Steve Barlow (Co-founders of Health Catalyst), and existing insiders. eVisit will invest the capital to drive growth by building out its Virtual Care platform and scaling up its sales and marketing efforts. The fundraise comes in the midst of eVisits rapid operational growth and staff expansion, driven by enterprise demand for its Virtual Care capabilities from large-scale Healthcare Organization (HCO) customers including Banner Health, Texas Health Resources Group, and Concentra.

$40M for Diversity in Decentralized Clinical Trials

Lightship has raised $40 million to create access to clinical research for all patients, and improving diversity among patient groups taking part in clinical trials around the world. The funding round has been led by Define Ventures and Brook Byers, with participation from Khosla Ventures, McKesson Ventures and Marc Benioffs TIME Ventures. The new funds will be used to help drive the firms expansion, including internationally, with a new office opening in the Fall in London, United Kingdom. With its end-to-end model, Lightship brings operational excellence to running decentralized clinical trials at scale. Founded in 2018, the firm is continuing to add new pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to its client base, in new therapeutic areas, and has continued to expand with the addition of over 100 new employees so far in 2021. To underpin the continued expansion of the firm, Lightship has bolstered its senior team with several senior hires. This includes the appointment of Robert P. Jones as Chief Financial Officer following nearly 14 years with Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director leading the firm's coverage of Healthcare Services & Technology within Global Investment Research.

$36.3M for Pan-Coronavirus Vaccines

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded approximately $36.3 million to three academic institutions to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. The awards are designed to fund multidisciplinary teams at University of Wisconsin, Madison; Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston; and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina to conduct research focused on incorporating understanding of coronavirus virology and immunology, immunogen design, and innovative vaccine and adjuvant platforms and technologies to discover, design, and develop pan-coronavirus vaccine candidates that provide broad protective immunity to multiple coronavirus strains.

$22.8M Series A for Next-Gen Neuroscience

Rune Labs, a brain data company empowering the development and delivery of precision neuroscience therapeutics, has announced a $22.8 million Series A financing led by Eclipse Ventures with participation from current investors including DigiTx and Moment Ventures. Justin Butler, Partner at Eclipse, will join the Rune Labs Board of Directors. Rune Labs was founded to fill the gap in software and data support for next-generation neuroscience therapeutics, and to expand the benefits of precision medicine to the millions of patients with neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Runes first-in-class precision brain data software platform integrates electrophysiology, brain imaging, and device data together with wearable data and clinical labels. The combination will provide researchers, drug developers, and clinicians with the tools to guide treatment, uncover hidden disease phenotypes, and design better-targeted therapies.

$22M Series C, Acquisition for Imaging Data Management, Analytics

Flywheel has announced a $22 million Series C funding round and a subsequent acquisition. The funding round is being led by 8VC, which is focused on building technology platforms that create long-term economic and societal value. Other investors include iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, Great North Labs and others. The acquisition is of St. Louis-based Radiologics. The two organizations combined capabilities in imaging research data management and analytics provide the medical research community unrivaled end-to-end research workflow solutionsfrom open source to global enterprise. Together, the two companies, now operating as Flywheel, offer the only biomedical research platform that can connect any organization or data set across academia, life sciences, clinical, and medical AI.

$20M Series A for Protein-Protein Interactions

A-Alpha Bio has closed a $20M Series A Financing Round to dramatically expand capabilities and throughput. The round was led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from Perceptive Advisors Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV Fund) and Lux Capital. Madrona Venture Groups Matt McIlwain and Xontogenys Ben Askew, Ph.D. have joined A-Alpha Bios Board of Directors as part of the financing. A-Alpha Bio is building a high-resolution model of biology by measuring millions of protein-protein interactions, leveraging the intersection of synthetic biology, protein engineering, and machine learning. Compared to traditional technologies for screening protein interactions, including biophysical and display platforms, A-Alpha Bios proprietary AlphaSeq platform can measure protein interactions at a scale and to a degree of precision that is otherwise inaccessible. The quantity and quality of AlphaSeq data is ideal for drug discovery and also critical for training highly predictive ML-models for protein-protein binding.

$20M for Personalized Medicine Plans

Tesis Labs, a leader in targeted genetic sequencing, announced $20 million of growth equity financing at a post-money valuation of $520 million. The round was led by Xcellerant 1 TLC, LLC, an investment group headed by John Shufeldt, M.D. This is the first external financing for Tesis Labs since it initiated operations in early 2020. Prior to this funding, the Company raised approximately $15 million. Tesis Labs offers healthcare providers and physicians access to unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases individually and across generations. The Tesis mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with treatment tools to help patients overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer through advanced genetic testing.

$17.1M to Study Drugs for Pregnant Women, Children

A new, five-year $17.1 million grant awarded to The Ohio State University College of Medicine will fund the creation of a knowledge bank to support the study of drugs and medical treatments for pregnant and lactating women and children. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant to the departments of Biomedical Informatics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics will help establish the Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics Data, Model, Knowledge and Research Coordination Center. This newly created center will serve as a national resource for multidisciplinary expertise and knowledge in maternal and pediatric therapeutics.

$16M for Chemical, Biological Weapons Protection

Charles River Analytics announced it was awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a team of research organizations seeking to develop a novel biosystem solution to protect warfighters from chemical and biological threats. The five-year, $16M contract will focus on neutralizing threats at vulnerable internal tissue barriers (including skin, airway, and ocular barriers) using a configurable biological countermeasure.Charles River Analytics will lead a team of partners as they collaborate on DARPAs Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) program. PPB aims to develop technology that reduces the need for burdensome protective equipment while increasing individual protection against biological attacks. The program will explore the use of new transgenic commensal organismsspecifically hookworms and schistosomesto secrete therapeutics specifically targeting chemical and biological threats, including neurotoxins (such as organophosphates) and microbial pathogens.

$13.6M for COVID-19 Testing Consumables

OraSure Technologies has announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will provide up to $13.6 million in funding for the Company to obtain 510(k) clearance and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for OraSures InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid test from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). InteliSwab is a simple swab, swirl, and see test that uses an integrated swab to self-collect a sample from the lower nostrils. The result appears right on the test stick within 30 minutes. It has three Emergency Use Authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use.

$13.5M for New Experimental Methods for Live Cell Research

A new Center for Live Cell Genomics, funded by a five-year, $13.5-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will bring together researchers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute to develop new methods and experimental platforms for biomedical research using live cells and tissues. The center will deploy this new biotechnology to study neurodevelopmental diseases and cancer. UC Santa Cruz has built an international reputation as a leader in bioinformatics and genomics, working at the forefront of efforts to use genomics in precision medicine and biomedical research. With the new center, the Genomics Institute is spearheading transformational innovations in experimental platform design for large-scale, long-term genomic studies of disease processes in living cells and complex tissues. Advanced methods for growing three-dimensional cultures of human cells and tissues in the lab will be combined with lab-on-a-chip technologies and connected to the internet to create an inexpensive and scalable system with internet-based remote control and analysis capabilities.

$10.89M Wellcome Funding For COVID-19 Therapeutics

The COVID Moonshot, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists from around the world dedicated to the discovery of globally affordable and easily-manufactured antiviral drugs against COVID-19 and future viral pandemics has received key funding of 8 million from Wellcome, on behalf of the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. The Moonshot started as a spontaneous virtual collaboration in March 2020. As countries locked down, a group of scientists, academics, pharmaceutical research teams and students began a worldwide, twitter-fuelled race against the clock to identify new molecules that could block SARS-CoV-2 infection and develop pills that would be readily available to the most vulnerable communities. All the generated discovery scientific data and the general learnings of the project will be put in the public domain. Moonshot data is already available online to enable others to freely build on its work the project has already generated over 50% of known structural information on the main protease, a key protein in SARS-CoV-2. The first clinical trials are expected in 2022.

$9M Seed Funding for Drug Discovery Platform

Fauna Bio, a biotechnology company leveraging animal genomics to improve human health, today announced it has raised $9 million in Seed funding led by LifeForce Capital, with participation from True Ventures, Boom Capital, Pacific 8 Ventures, BioMed Ventures, Vibe Capital and Arcadia Science. Fauna Bio will use the new funds to expand its drug discovery platform Convergence while accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic targets for human diseases across a broad range of indications. Fauna Bio harnesses the power of comparative and functional genomics to find better therapies for human disease, including neurologic, metabolic, fibrotic, and cardiovascular disorders. The initial version of Convergence uses gene expression data from hibernating mammals due to their extreme biology and their remarkable ability to reverse disease-causing traits. The platform has so far identified two compounds and four novel genetic targets currently undergoing evaluation for heart disease and related disorders. The company also collaborates with Novo Nordisk on a target discovery program for obesity. Additionally, Fauna Bio has identified seven novel genetic targets to reduce fibrosis, which is a core component of many chronic and debilitating diseases, including NASH and cardiovascular disease secondary to chronic kidney disease and diabetic cardiomyopathy.

$6.8M Swedish IPO for Simultaneous Analysis of Gut Microbiota

Microbiome DX company Genetic Analysis AS closed up 50% over the first two days of trading on the Swedish Spotlight Stock Market following completion of a share issue. The issue of units was oversubscribed to a total of approximately NOK 99 million, corresponding to a subscription ratio of approximately 165 percent, and the Company received approximately NOK 60 million before issue costs. Through the issue of units, approximately 1,200 new shareholders were added to GA including several leading Nordic and international private and institutional investors. The company now plans to use the funds to accelerate commercialization of its proprietary GA-map diagnostic platform for simultaneous analysis of gut microbiota.

$5M Seed Round for Web-Based CRISPR Data Analysis

Latch Bio, a company building data infrastructure for the biocomputing revolution, today announced the closing of a $5 million seed funding round led by Lux Capital with participation from General Catalyst, Haystack, Fifty Years, and Asimov co-founder and CEO, Alec Nielsen, Ph.D. The company has also announced the launch of its first-of-a-kind web-based platform which enables any biologist to analyze CRISPR data without any code or cloud infrastructure setup. Latch Bio was founded in 2021 by Alfredo Andere, Kyle Giffin, and Kenny Workman who met as undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. Using the Latch platform, any researcher can now create a centralized one-stop-shop for storing, transforming and visualizing their data without writing any code. Through the Latch plugins, users can import files from their existing data stack including Amazon S3, Benchling, and Illuminas BaseSpace. Biologists have access to dozens of popular workflows including CRISPResso, MAGeCK, CasTLE, Cas.py, MultiQC, and CasOffinder, among others. After performing a specific workflow, users can further interrogate the results using the built-in genomic visualizer and quality controls. The Latch platform is offered free to academic research users.

$4M in NIH Funding for Early Career Researchers at Mount Sinai

Two Mount Sinai cancer researchers will be awarded $4 million in total costs from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, which supports exceptionally high-impact programs and research by junior scientists around the country. Deborah Marshall, MD, MAS, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Tisch Cancer Institute and The Blavatnik Family Womens Health Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Jalal Ahmed Khan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Precision Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute, each received an Early Independence Award worth $2 million given out over five years. Dr. Marshalls study seeks to define novel predictors of female sexual dysfunction and to identify quantitative imaging and microbiome-based biomarker indices associated with damage to specific sexual organs from radiation oncology treatments. Dr. Ahmed Khans study seeks to advance the cancer therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for solid tumors by manipulating CAR T cell interactions with the immune tumor microenvironment.

$1.99M Seed Round for Medical Genetics Software

Genetics software startup PhenoTips announced today that it has raised CAD $2.5 million in an oversubscribed seed fundraising round led by the GreenSky Accelerator Fund IV. This round includes the support of the Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Thin Air Labs, Yorkville Partners, and angel investors including members of the GreenSky Presidents Club. PhenoTips empowers healthcare providers to deliver precision medicine with the most complete and interoperable software solution for medical genetics. PhenoTips technology is used by leading genetic care providers in four countries, across four NHS Trusts and two provincial Canadian health systems, currently serving over 200,000 patients with tools that enable deep phenotyping, family history, and genomic analysis. With the additional funds from this seed round, the company plans to double the size of its twelve-person Canada-based team and expand its cloud-based product offerings.

$1M to Engage Diverse Researchers in the All of Us Dataset

Baylor College of Medicine has received more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in utilizing the All of Us Research Programs data resources to advance precision medicine. As part of the effort to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in using All of Us data, Baylor will host All of Us Evenings with Genetics seminars, modeled after the Evenings with Genetics seminars hosted by the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, at universities across the country. The seminar series will introduce the All of Us Research Program to biomedical researchers and students from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, and show them how to use the data in a variety of fields, including medicine, psychology, nutrition, and education.

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Follow the Money: CRISPR, Next-Gen Neuroscience, Protein Platforms - Bio-IT World

Neuroscience

Meet Neumora, Arch’s $500M, Amgen-partnered play for the targeted future of neuroscience R&D – FierceBiotech

Arch Venture Partners has taken the lid off its big bet on neuroscience. Having quietly put the startup together over the past 18 months, Thursday Arch unveiled Neumora Therapeuticsa biotech that starts life with $500 million, a collaboration with Amgen and a pipeline of eight prospects.

Neumora represents a test of the idea that neuroscience is on the cusp of the sort of rapid progress that has transformed oncology in recent years. If Neumora is right, recent advances in genomics and neurobiology have set the stage for more targeted modulation of the underlying biology of specific brain diseases, just as the oncology field has gone from targeting organs to zeroing in on molecularly defined diseases.

We recognized an opportunity to build a proprietary toolbox of state-of-the-art neural network technologies, which uniquely positions us to pioneer a new era in precision medicines for brain diseases by integrating data science and neuroscience, Lori Lyons-Williams, chief operating officer at Neumora, said.

Armed with the platform, Neumora aims to match the right patients to targeted therapeutics, Lyons-Williams said, enabling it to de-risk clinical trials and improve outcomes for patients. Unlike most newly unveiled biotechs, Neumora is already in a position to start putting its ideas to the test in the clinic.

RELATED: As Amgen zeroes in on cancer, neuroscience pipeline under the ax

The startup begins life with a pipeline of eight candidates, two of which are in the clinic, and more than $500 million to fund their development. Most of the money comes from an Arch-led syndicate.

Some of the assets, targeting casein kinase 1 delta and glucocerebrosidase, and $100 million of the cash come from Amgen, which pulled out of neuroscience R&D in 2019. The Big Biotechs retreat from the hard-to-crack therapeutic area opened the door to a deal with Neumora. Amgen will use its deCODE genetics and human data research capabilities to feed insights into Neumoras precision neuroscience platform.

Neumora put together the rest of the pipeline by rolling up privately held companies including BlackThorn Therapeutics. Arch led a $40 million series A round in BlackThorn in 2016 and went on to participate in a $76 million series B in 2019. The rounds positioned BlackThorn, under the leadership of a team featuring Paul Berns, to advance targeted therapeutics for mental health.

BlackThorn is now part of Neumora, and Berns is CEO of the combined company, slotting in at the head of a C-suite that features John Dunlop, Ph.D., formerly of Amgen, in the chief scientific officer role. Other posts are filled by former employees of companies including Alexion and BlackThorn. As it stands, BlackThorn is still listed as the sponsor of a phase 2 clinical trial that is testing kappa opioid receptor antagonist BTRX-335140 in patients with major depressive disorder. The 180-subject study is scheduled to wrap up next summer, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.

RELATED: Fierce 15 2017 | BlackThorn Therapeutics

BTRX-335140, now known as NMRA-140, is joined in Neumoras clinical-phase pipeline by NMRA-511, a selective V1aR antagonist that is in phase 1 development as a treatment of anxiety disorders. Neumoras preclinical pipeline addresses sleep, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Building a pipeline that has mental health programs alongside drugs targeting neurodegenerative diseases sets Neumora apart from most of its predecessors. However, while acknowledging that the industry has historically kept neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases separate, Lyons-Williams thinks current knowledge supports a more unified approach.

The reality is that these are all diseases of one organ, the brain, and there are mechanistic overlaps and comorbidities across these diseases. We believe our multi-modal data science approach captures unique insights across a range of disease drivers including genetic, imaging and clinical that can be applicable across brain diseases, Lyons-Williams said.

Neumora will soon be in a position to start delivering some early wins, or losses. Data drops on the two clinical programs are planned for 2022 and 2023, Lyons-Williams said, and multiple INDs are on the schedule for the next few years. Neumora plans to advance the pipeline prospects while building out its platform, including by adding more data sets and expanding its data science efforts.

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Meet Neumora, Arch's $500M, Amgen-partnered play for the targeted future of neuroscience R&D - FierceBiotech